Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1500189
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S 35 VRS: Who are some of your favorite movies/directors/actors that you've worked with? GYW: I have been lucky to work with the best; Spielberg, Redford, Caro, Trevorrow, Kosinski, Fincher—how do you choose? Actors—Colin Farrell, Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Brie Larson, Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Mamoudou Athie, Cate Blanchett, Daniel Craig, Pierce Brosnan, Jack Lemmon—impossible to list them all—I have learned from all of them. VRS: What are some things that you want to share about yourself that we may not know!? GYW: I am a British citizen, as well as an American. I love a good boxing workout, and sparred with Jim Cameron once. Gwen says that walking down the halls at Skywalker Sound, she sees Randy Thom, Ben Burtt, Ren Klyce, and Gary Rydstrom—the Titans of Sound—and realizes with total awe that they are all her colleagues and friends. "I've learned so much from each of them." GYW: Gary taught me how to ask the director good questions. 'How can we help you tell the story with sound.' You have to know your 'patient'! You learn the work style of the directors, and the whole crew. It's our job to help tell the story but you also can't take it too seriously. You've got to keep the stress level down. Randy [Thom] is great at adding just the right amount of levity! Mixer Michael Semanick likes to explain that the film is a blueprint the director gives you, and we put the finishing touches on it. Each shot is there for a reason, how do we support it. Ren Klyce taught me the importance of keeping the energy and excitement alive in the mix—and how that makes everything better. VRS: I see on your IMDb page that you have a nickname of "The Duchess"! What's that about? GYW: While working at Fox on a show, I can't remember which one, Stuart McCowan (My former assistant-Scottish) and mixer Andy Nelson decided I needed a title and dubbed me 'The Duchess' (along with a lot of giggling). VRS: What's next for you? GYW: Currently, I'm working on a streaming series tentatively called Retreat, starring Harris Dickinson [Triangle of Sadness] and Emma Corrin [Lady Chatterly's Lover]. It's mostly set in Iceland and is kind of a murder mystery. It's very good! VRS: I sure wished we could have worked together on something! Why didn't we? GYW: Well, we both do the same thing! From her varied career, Gwen has traveled the world honing her craft in sound. From spinning the bottle and landing in San Francisco to meeting her husband to raising her family to working on some of the biggest films of all time, I asked her to think about the threads of her life and how they've intertwined. GYW: I've been thinking about a thread of consistency about my work and my life, and really the most solid thread has been that I believe that we each have to make things happen for ourselves—no one owes you a living, so you have to be brave and try out the opportunities as they present themselves—use the magic of chance! If things don't work out, well at least that was figured out, and that path never has to be taken again! And if the choices lead to more and greater options—run with them! Sonoma, CA – Gwen in the biplane Sopwith Camel for The Peanuts Movie (2015).